THE PERSIAN EMPIRE,THE ANCIENT RULERS OF PERSIA (MODERN IRAN),ACHAEMENID DYNASTY (648 BC–330 BC).THE EMPIRE REACHED IT'S GREATEST EXTENT UNDER DARIUS I,HE LED CONQUERING ARMIES INTO THE INDUS RIVER VALLEY AND INTO THRACE AND GREECE (ALEXANDER THE GREAT) IN EUROPE.

Persepolis : Greek name of one of the capitals of the ancient Achaemenid Empire, founded by king Darius the Great (522-486 BCE).The palace known as Taçara, "winter palace", in Persepolis was according to the inscription known as DPa, built by king Darius I the Great. However, the great king did not live to see it finished. It was completed after his death in 486 by his son and successor Xerxes.Its ruins are immediately south of the Apadana. Compared to Xerxes' Palace, the Apadana and the Treasury, the Taçara has remained well-preserved. The big stone structures have survived; only the parts of wood have vanished.

Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 7000 BC.Of the two main Indo-European tribes moving south into Iran, it is at first the Medes who play the dominant role. With a capital at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan), they establish themselves as powerful neighbours of Assyria. In 612 they combine with Babylon to sack the Assyrian capital at Nineveh. Their spoils are northern Assyria and much of Anatolia, where the Halys river becomes the border between themselves and Lydia.The southwestern and western part of the Iranian Plateau participated in the traditional Ancient Near East with Elam, from the Early Bronze Age, and later with various other peoples, such as the Kassites, Mannaeans, and Gutians. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel names the Persians as the first Historical People.The Medes unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC The Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), founded by Cyrus the Great, was the first of the Persian empires to rule from the Balkans to North Africa and also Central Asia, spanning three continents, from their seat of power in Persis (Persepolis). It was the largest empire yet seen and the first world empire. The First Persian Empire was the only civilization in all of history to connect over 40% of the global population, accounting for approximately 49.4 million of the world's 112.4 million people in around 480 BC.They were succeeded by the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Empires, who successively governed Iran for almost 1000 years and made Iran once again as a leading power in the world. Persia's arch-rival was the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire.The Persian Empire proper begins in the Iron Age, following the influx of Iranian peoples. Iranian people gave rise to the Medes, the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian Empires of classical antiquity.Once a major empire, Iran has endured invasions too, by the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the Mongols. Iran has continually reasserted its national identity throughout the centuries and has developed as a distinct political and cultural entity.The Muslim conquest of Persia (633–656) ended the Sasanian Empire and was a turning point in Iranian history. Islamization of Iran took place during the eighth to tenth centuries and led to the eventual decline of Zoroastrianism in Iran as well as many of its dependencies. However, the achievements of the previous Persian civilizations were not lost, but were to a great extent absorbed by the new Islamic polity and civilization.Iran, with its long history of early cultures and empires, had suffered particularly hard during the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Many invasions of nomadic tribes, whose leaders became rulers in this country, affected it negatively.Iran was once again reunified as an independent state in 1501 by the Safavid dynasty, which converted Iran to Shia Islamas the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam.Functioning again as a leading power, this time amongst the neighboring Ottoman Empire, their arch-rival for centuries, Iran had been a monarchy ruled by an emperor almost without interruption from 1501 until the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when Iran officially became an Islamic republic on April 1, 1979.Many invasions of nomadic tribes, whose leaders became rulers in this country, affected it negatively.

Cyrus the Great and his wife,Cassandane Shahbanu was an Achaemenid Persian noblewoman, the daughter of Pharnaspes and the beloved wife of Cyrus the Great. She bore four children: Cambyses II (who succeeded his father and conquered Egypt), Smerdis who also reigned as the king of Persia for a short time and a mighty daughter named Atusa. Princess Atusa later played an important role in Achaemenid royal house. Cyrus loved his Queen Cassandane dearly and when she died the entire empire observed a great mourning. Cyrus never recovered from the grief of losing her and stayed inactive for nearly a decade after her death. Behind every great man there’s a great woman and vice versa! There is a report in the chronicle of Nabonidus that, when "the king’s wife died," there was a longlasting public mourning in Persia along with all the twenty-five nations that were part of the empire. Queen Cassandane was buried in the tower called Zendaan-e Solaymaan at Pasargadae Persia.

Cyrus has been kiled, Tomyris was an ancient ruler of the Massagetae, a Scythian pastoral-nomadic confederation in Central Asia. She became famous for her bravery and especially for the greatest battle she ever fought the day when Cyrus the Great died.campaigning against nomadic tribesmen in the northeast, near the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers. Tomyris’ kingdom was located in the area to the east of the Caspian Sea,
in parts of modern-day Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, western Uzbekistan,
and southern Kazakhstan. Most people remember Tomyris for her role in
the defense against an attack by Cyrus the Great of the Achamenind
Empire (600/ 576 – 530 BC). In 530 BC, she may have killed one of the
most famous Persians in history. He is buried in the place which he has made his capital, Pasagardae.Cyrus was killed during a battle against the Massagetae or Sakas.His tomb, massive but superbly simple, stands today as an impressive monument to the emperor - though now in parched surroundings where once everything was well watered, in an early version of a Persian garden. Its interior, in which the body lies in a gold sarcophagus on a gold couch, is broken into and stripped two centuries after his death during the campaign of Alexander the Great.

Cyrus the Great: 559-530 BC

Cyrus the Great creates the Persian Empire.At
first the Medes were in charge, but in 559 BC Cyrus, who was a Persian,
made himself king, and from then on the Persians were in charge. Cyrus
(SIGH-russ) soon also conquered the whole rest of West Asia: the
Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Jews, the Phoenicians and the Syrians,
and also the Lydians and the Greeks in modern Turkey. He is remembered
as a good ruler. He managed to unify a very diverse group of people,
with many different languages and religions. At the same time, he
allowed each group to keep their own religion. This is especially
surprising because he himself had recently converted to Zoroastrianism
and clearly felt strongly about his new faith.Cyrus’ son Cambyses rules the Persian Empire Iranian archers made out of glazed bricks (Persians)The balance between the Medes and the Persians rapidly changes after Cyrus II becomes king of the Persians in 559 BC. He rebels against the Medes in 553. Three years later he captures their king and their capital city, Ecbatana. He then presses west to secure and expand his new empire. He seizes the Lydian capital, Sardis, in 546, together with Croesus, its famously rich king. His armies then continue west to dominate the Greek cities of Ionia, extending his power to the shores of the Aegean.Babylon and Mesopotamia fall to him next, in 539. The basis of the first Persian empire (the Achaemenid empire) has been set in place within a mere eleven years of Cyrus defeating the Medes. He has earned his title 'the Great'.Cyrus is a politician as well as a conqueror. He presents himself as liberator of Babylon, releasing the people from the yoke of an unpopular king, and he is received as such. He makes a point of respecting the Babylonian religion. He allows the Jews to return from their Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem, and encourages the rebuilding of their Temple.There is in these actions a genuine basis for his reputation. But Cyrus also uses propaganda more successively than any previous ruler, to spread and reinforce his fame. People succumb to this conqueror partly because they believe it in their interest to do so.Cyrus the Great built the Persian empire from its small beginnings in south-western Iran by taking over the so-called Median empire (which probably stretched far back towards the east of modern Iran). His son consolidated those gains and extended them into Egypt. On the other hand, in some circles Darius I is thought to have been a usurper of the Persian throne, or at least an opportunistic claimant. Going back to the titular founder of the dynasty, many scholars of Achaemenid history now believe that the eponymous Achaemenes was a fictional common ancestor who was used to legitimise Darius' rule. Darius went so far as to install inscriptions on the unfinished palace of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae which read 'I am Cyrus, the king, the Achaemenid'. No record of Achaemenes can be dated earlier than the reign of Darius I. Nonetheless, the name 'Achaemenid' has been commonly accepted for the line of Persian kings beginning with Darius I. Some sources use the term to refer to the entire line of early Persian rulers, including both Cyrus and Cambyses. The name is the Latin version of the original Old Persian Haxāmaniš, but this seems not to be used in modern writing.During his empire-building phase, Cyrus mounted a campaign to the east of Persis and the former Median territories, marching through much of South Asia outside India and also the southern areas of Central Asia. These were his ancestral homelands, the Indo-Iranian melting pot from which the Parsua had migrated in the first place to reach Persis. There would have been no language barriers for his forces and few cultural differences. Although details of his conquests are relatively poor, he seemingly experienced few problems in uniting the various tribes under his governance. He was the first to exert any form of imperial control here, although his campaign may have been driven partially by a desire to recreate the semi-mythical kingdom of Turan in the land of Tūr, but now under Persian control. Curiously the Persians had little knowledge of what lay to the north of their eastern empire, with the result that Alexander the Great was less well-informed about the region than earlier Ionian settlers on the Black Sea coast had been.Each Achaemenid ruler is usually known by the Greek or Latin form of his name simply because it was the Greeks who best recorded this history, and then the Romans inherited this work and enlarged upon it. For reasons of accuracy and completion, the original Persian versions are included in parenthesis. One of the very first acts of Cyrus the Great was to move the Persian capital to the former Elamite capital of Susa. In the later Behistun inscription of Darius the Great this land is known as Uwja or Ūja, and was part of the 'Great Satrapy Pārsa/Persis', or rather Persis and Ūja were two 'main satrapies' which were governed together and from the same place.The conquest of Babylon. After consolidating his power in Iranian lands and Asia Minor, Cyrus made the conquest of Babylon, the political and cultural capital of the ancient Near East, his goal. In 539 B.C.E., after inflicting a severe defeat on the Babylonians at Opis on the Tigris, in which a large number of Babylonian soldiers perished and a great amount of booty was acquired, Cyrus conquered Sippar and then entered Babylon without meeting any resistance (Briant, pp. 50-55). It may be noted that by this time the Mesopotamian civilization had run its course and was suffering from internal exhaustion. In Babylon Cyrus proclaimed himself a worshiper of Marduk, the Babylonian chief god, and one appointed by him to rule over the world. He treated the Babylonians with leniency and responded positively to the wishes and aspirations of the Babylonian elite, restoring their temples and returning the statues of gods captured in battle to their original homes.Not all of Cyrus’s successors followed his example in military capability and statesmanship. His son and successor Cambyses ( 530-522) who conquered Egypt in 525, treated the Egyptians harshly and seems to have been a despot. On his way back from Egypt he died of a wound. The events that followed and eventually led to the ascent of Darius I (q.v.) to the throne and a change of line in the Achaemenid dynasty are shrouded in mystery. Darius (522-486) states in his great inscription in Bisotun ( that Cambyses had his younger brother, Bardiya (murdered, and a magus by the name of Gaumāta (q.v.) claimed to be Bardiya and seized the throne in Cambyses’s absence, until Darius and his helpers from six noble houses unmasked and killed him in his palace in Ecbatana and Darius became king. Herodotus elaborates the story, but on all essential points he repeats Darius’s claim. However, a number of scholars have concluded that Cambyses’s successor was in fact his true brother, who by granting a moratorium on taxes for three years had gained popularity among his subjects, and that Darius invented the story in order to legitimize his usurpation of the throne. The fact that, according to Darius’s Bisotun inscription, nearly all the provinces of the empire rose in revolt upon his seizure of power lends some plausibility to the theory.Mandana
(Mandane) was a Median princess, daughter of the mighty King Astyages
and later, the Queen consort of Cambyses of Anshan and mother of Cyrus
the Great, (ruler of Persia’s Achaemenid Dynasty and the writer of the
first declaration of human rights,
named: Cyrus Cylinder). Queen Mandana is a central character in legends
describing Cyrus the great’s early years. According to ancient greek
historian Herodotus, after the birth of Cyrus, King Astyages had a
strange dream that his "Magi" (Court Magician) interpreted as a sign
that his grandson would eventually overthrow him. He then ordered his
steward Harpagus to get rid of the boy. Harpagus, morally unable to do
so hid the child with a shepherd named Mitridates. Cyrus grew up without
knowing that he came from a Royal Bloodline. According to this legend,
Cyrus would eventually defy his grandfather, King Astyages, leading to a
great war between them; as the dream had forecast. There are references
to Mandana’s death as 559 B.C.E. in the history books. King Darius the
Great named his daughter "Mandana" after her.

Darius I the Great (521-486 BC),Darius’s reign was one of the most important episodes in the history of the Persian Empire. His military conquest expanded the boundaries of Persia, and internally, his reforms improved the vitality of the empire. Some of his improvements have survived even to this day such as his laws as the basis for the current Iranian law.Darius married Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, presumably to increase his legitimacy. Soon after the marriage the couple had a son, Xerxes, who was about 35 when he came to the throne in 486 so was probably born in 521. According to a trilingual inscription carved into the rock at Bisitun (Behistun) Darius fought nineteen battles in the first year of his reign. There were revolts in Susiana, Babylonia, Media, Sagartia, Margiana and possibly Egypt, although Darius's opponents failed to coordinate their efforts. Although he tended to respect local traditions during his reign, Darius could act firmly - he had 3,000 of his enemies in Babylon crucified in 519 after putting down the revolt there.

Greco-Persian War in 499 BCE,Darius I inherited, then expanded, his empire. Stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus Valley, it covered an area of nearly 2.9 million square miles (7.5 million square kilometers) and included around ten million people. This image depicts Darius, the Great King, enthroned in the magnificent city which he built - Persepolis. In his right hand, he holds the royal scepter. In his left, he holds the symbol of royalty - a lotus blossom with two buds.A story, from the time the Suez Canal was created, helps to shed light on the extent of his accomplishments. In 1866, workers digging twenty miles north of Suez found fragments of a red-granite stele. It was about seven feet wide and ten feet tall. The stele had an inscription, in four languages (Old Persian, Babylonian, Elamite, and Egyptian) which was really a message from Darius, the Great King of Persia, about the Nile-Red Sea Canal:I ordered this canal to be dug from the Nile, which flows in Egypt, to the sea that goes to Persia. This canal was dug out as I commanded and ships went from Egypt through this canal into Persia as was my desire.

Darius I : 522-486 BC

During the long rule of Darius I,also known as Darius the Great, was the third Persian King of the Achaemenid Empire. His reign lasted 36 years, from c. 522 to 486 BCE; during this time the Persian Empire reached its peak. Darius led military campaigns in Europe, Greece, and even in the Indus valley, conquering lands and expanding his empire. Not only resuming to military prowess, Darius also improved the legal and economic system and conducted impressive construction projects across the Persian Empire. The conquests of Cyrus and Cambyses are consolidated and the Achaemenid empire reaches its greatest extent - from Macedonia in the west to northern India in the east. Never before has such a large area, including so many people of different cultures and traditions, been controlled under a single system.Darius' rule was marked by vast military expeditions. After consolidating his power at home, he set off to secure the lands of Egypt, which had been conquered before by Cambyses, and in 519 BCE he incorporated a large part of Egypt into his empire. Thefollowing year, in 518 BCE, he conquered parts of India, namely northern Punjab as his inscriptions testify. Herodotus adds that India was the 20th satrap of the empire and also that parts of the Indus valley were also conquered.The next significant campaign was in European Scythia in 513 BCE. They range from simple military conquest to a more propagandistic motive, revenge for a previous conflict during the reign of Cyrus where the Scythians had attacked Medes. Another possible reason is that Darius wanted to conquer the western Greek lands and the Scythian campaign was supposed to threaten the Greeks into surrender.The genius of Darius lies in creating a workable structure for the empire. This depends on such details as a sustainable system of taxation; a communication network based on good roads and efficient message-carrying; a single language, Aramaic, used in government documents throughout the empire; and firm control in the armed forces. He seized power after killing king Gaumâta, fought a civil war (described in the Behistun inscription), and was finally able to refound the Achaemenid empire, which had been very loosely organized until then. Darius fought several foreign wars, which brought him to India and Thrace. When he died, the Persian empire had reached its largest extent. He was succeeded by his son Xerxes.Greco-Persian War in 499 BCE, Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus, convinced the satrap Artaphernes to sponsor a campaign against Naxos. Darius gave his consent and named Megabates, Artaphemes’s cousin, as commander of the Persian army. They were supposed to be supported and supplied by Aristagoras, but a quarrel between Megabates and Aristagoras resulted in the former betraying them and informing the Naxians of their plans, sabotaging the campaign. Finding himself without help, Aristagoras decided to revolt against the Persians. Seeking other allies, although he failed to acquire the support of Sparta, he managed to secure the aid of Athens and Eretria, both providing troops and ships.After six years of conflict, during which Sardis, Cyprus, and the Hellespont were attacked, the Persian army defeated the rebels at the Battle of Lade in 494 BCE where most of the Athenian fleet was destroyed. Undeterred, Darius gathered his army, planning to conquer Athens. His army consisted of infantry and cavalry, led by the general Datis. They marched from Susa to Cilicia, where ships carried them across the Aegean Sea to the island of Samos. Here they joined up with an armed force from Ionia and sailed north, to Athens.The Testament of Darius to his son and successor Emperor Xerxes the Great:"As I am about to depart this world, twenty-five countries are part of the Persian Empire. In all of these countries, Persian currency is accepted, and Persians enjoy a particular respect in these countries. My successor, Khashyar Shah must, like me, work to retain these countries. And the way to retain them is to not interfere in their internal affairs, and to respect each country’s religion and ritual.""As I am about to depart this world, you have twelve koroure in gold in the royal treasury; this gold is one of the pillars of your power. A king’s power is not just dependent on the sword, but on wealth as well. Remember that you must add to this treasury and not diminish it. I am not suggesting that under dire circumstances, you should not take gold out of it, as the rule for this treasury gold is that it must be used when necessary, but at first chance, return what you have taken to the treasury. I am indebted to your mother Atousa, so you must, at all times, ensure her happiness and peace of mind.""For ten years, I have been busy building grain silos all around the country. I learned the method of building these cone-like stone structures in Egypt, and since the silos are intermittently emptied, insects do not thrive there and grain can be stored in these silos for several years without rotting. And you must continue the work of building these silos until the time when they can hold two to three years’ reserve for the whole country. And each year, after the harvest, use the stored grain to eliminate shortages and replenish the silos after harvesting and this way, you shall never worry about foodstuff in this country, even if you face two or three years of draught."

Emperor Xerxes I (486-465 BC) 'The Great' King of Persia

Xerxes I ,Darius' eldest son by Queen Atossa, was born after his father had come to the throne; he had been designated official heir perhaps as early as 498 BC, and while crown prince he had ruled as the King's governor in Babylon. The new king quickly suppressed the revolt in Egypt in a single campaign in 485 BC. Xerxes then broke with the policy followed by Cyrus and Darius of ruling foreign lands with a fairly light hand and, in a manner compatible with local traditions, ruthlessly ignored Egyptian forms of rule and imposed his will on the rebellious province in a thoroughly Iranian style. Plans for the invasion of Greece begun under Darius were then still further delayed by a major revolt in Babylonia about 482 BC, which also was suppressed with a heavy hand.Xerxes then turned his attention westward to Greece. He wintered in Sardis in 481-480 BC and thence led a combined land and sea invasion of Greece. Northern Greece fell to the invaders in the summer of 480, the Greek stand at Thermopylae in August of 480 came to nought, and the Iranian land forces marched on Athens, taking and burning the Acropolis. But the Iranian fleet lost the Battle of Salamis, and the impetus of the invasion was blunted. Xerxes, who had by then been away from Asia rather long for a king with such widespread responsibilities, returned home and left Mardonius in charge of further operations. The real end of the invasion came with the Battle of Plataea, the fall of Thebes (a stronghold of pro-Iranian forces), and the Iranian naval loss at Mycale in 479 BC. Of the three, the Iranian loss at Plataea was perhaps the mostdecisive. Up until Mardonius was killed, the issue of the battle was probably still in doubt, but, once leaderless, the less organized and less disciplined Iranian forces collapsed. Time and again in later years this was to be the pattern in such encounters, for the Iranian never solved the military problem posed by the disciplined Greek hoplites.The formation of the Delian League, the rise of Athenian imperialism, troubles on the west coast of Asia Minor, and the end of Iranian military ambitions in the Aegean followed rapidly in the decade after Plataea. Xerxes probably lost interest in the proceedings and sank deeper and deeper into the comforts of life in his capital cities of Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis. Treasury intrigues, which were steadily to sap the strength and vitality of the Achaemenid Empire, led to the assassination of the Great King in 465 BC.Darius I was succeeded by his son Xerxes I, who had long been groomed for the throne, serving as governor of Babylon. Xerxes was preferred to Darius's older son Artabazanes. Xerxes had to begin by putting down a revolt in Egypt (486-485 BC), but once this was done he was free to concentrate on Greece, leading to the famous campaigns of Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea.Unlike his father and Cyrus the Great, Xerxes ruled foreign lands with a heavy hand. In 485, he put down in a revolt in Egypt, and “ruthlessly ignored Egyptian forms of rule and imposed his will on the rebellious province in a thoroughly Persian style,” the Iran Chamber Society explains.Next, he suppressed another revolt in Babylonia. Although his father had treated Babylonia and Egypt as allies of the Persian Empire, Xerxes turned his back on these empires—and their gods, reports Huot. From now on, he called himself simply “king of the Persians and the Medes.”Peace was reestablished in the empire but many wanted to seek revenge against the Greeks for the great loss that Darius had suffered at the Battle of Marathon in 490. Mardonius, Xerxes’ cousin and brother-in-law, incited him to action.

Emperor Xerxes I and his wife,Amestris Shahbanu was the beautiful daughter of Otanes (A Persian nobleman mentioned in the Histories of Herodotus as a defender of the idea of democracy.) and the early wife of Emperor Xerxes the Great (prior to Esther), mother of King Artaxerxes and Queen of Persia. When Darius died in 486 BC, Amestris was married to the crown prince, Xerxes. She was also an Achaemenid military Commander and her mother was a Arteshbod General of the Imperial Army. Amestris was known to have been poorly regarded by biased ancient Greek historians. She had the reputation to be more bloodthirsty than any Persian king had ever been against those who broke the law, in order to set a precedent for the importance of the rule of law in the empire. Queen Amestris was a great and very strict law-giver. Worth to mention is that after her death King Darius II of Persia named his daughter Amestris after her in the year 413 B.C.E.

Grand Admiral Artemisia became the ruler of Halicarnassius (A Greek City-State and a colony of Persian Empire). She ruled under the overlordship of the Persian Emperor Xerxes . She was the legendary Grand Admiral and leader of the Persian Navy, She was Xerxes’ great love. A great powerful, independent and intelligent woman who won many battles during the Achaemnid Dynasty Era. When the Persian King Xerxes went to war against Greece in 480 B.C.E, Artemisia led her powerful ships and helped Xerxes defeat the Greeks in the beginning phases of naval battle of Salamis. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus :It seems to me a marvel that she - a woman - should have taken part in the campaign against Greece." The Athenians resented women in arms, says Herodotus. The Greeks offered a reward of 10,000 drachmas for capturing Artemisia’s head, but no one succeeded in winning the prize. Understand that back then Persia was the sole superpower of the globe and Greece consisted of tens of separated and scattered city-states, each played their own tunes and they were busy fighting each other all the time. Some of these city-states were pro Persia, some were anti Persia, some were neutral and some were even parts of Persia as protectorates! Admiral Artemisia became a living legend and a role model for all the women in the Empire and the known civilized World.

King Darius III of Persia (336-330 BC)

Darius III ruled as the final king of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. Also known as Darius Codomannus, he began his reign in 336 BC, over what had been one of the greatest empires of Western Asia. Unfortunately, ineffective kings and multiple rebellions had steadily weakened the empire for nearly a hundred years. Darius III was left with the tasks of strengthening the army to defend against Alexander the Great, who lead a united Greece and of reorganizing the government. With the end of both his short six-year reign and the fall of the Persian Empire in 330, it was apparent that he had failed to complete these tasks.Darius III assumed the throne under questionable circumstances. His father, Arsames was the nephew of Artaxerxes II. A eunuch named Bagoas poisoned both Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III who were the princes next in line for the throne. Born with the name Codomannus, Darius III later adopted the name Darius as he assumed the throne at age 45. Darius III then asserted his authority over Bagoas, who then attempted to poison him. Darius III fittingly forced Bagoas to drink his own poison.Darius III first major pursuit as king was to retake Egypt in 334. A previous revolt had left Egypt outside the control of the Persian Empire. Soon after, Alexander the Great and a united Greece rose to considerable power. Darius III was ill prepared to battle the advancing Alexander and was defeated in the Battle of Issus in 333. The wife and family left behind by the fleeing Darius III were supposedly treated well by Alexander the Great due to their royalty.Darius III then raised a second army and more carefully choose a location to combat the armies of Alexander the Great. At the Battle of Gaugamela, in present day Iraq, Alexander the Great again defeated the Persian army. While fleeing to the city Bactria, Darius III was killed by one of his own satraps, Bessus. who had been one of the commanders of the Persian forces. With the defeat of Darius III and the Persian Empire, Alexander gained control of the entire Mediterranean coast.Circumstances were more in Darius’s favor at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. He had a good number of troops who had been organized on the battlefield properly, he had the support of the armies of several of his satraps, and the ground on the battlefield was almost perfectly even, so as not to impede movement of his scythed chariots. Despite all these beneficial factors, he still fled the battle before any victor had been decided and deserted his experienced commanders as well as one of the largest armies ever assembled.Another source accounts that when Darius perceived the fierce attack of Alexander, as at Issus he turned his chariot around, and was the first to flee, once again abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. Many Persian soldiers lost their lives that day, so many in fact that after the battle the casualties of the enemy ensured that Darius would never again raise an imperial army. Darius then fled to Ecbatana and attempted to raise a third army, while Alexander took possession of Babylon, Susa, and the Persian capital at Persepolis. Darius reportedly offered all of his empire west of the Euphrates River to Alexander in exchange for peace several times, each time denied by Alexander against the advice of his senior commanders.Alexander could have declared victory after the capture of Persepolis, but he instead decided to pursue Darius.The Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia in 331 BC, took place approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Erbil, Iraq. After the battle, Darius managed to flee to the city. However, somewhat inaccurately, the confrontation is sometimes known as the "Battle of Arbela."

Alexander the Great set out to invade Persian territory. We must firstly accept, that we have veracity in the actions
but only really speculation in regard to his motivations. This is
because the extant ancient sources, for much of the’ whys and why nots,’
are not contemporaneous but rather lived, and wrote, around three
hundred years after the death of Alexander. These surviving writings on
Alexander, by Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus of Sicily and Quintus Curtius,
although they refer to earlier sources, like Cleitarchus, Ptolemy and
Aristoboulus of Cassandrea, their works have not survived, so we are
left with much supposition on the part of these writers; and debate by
the modern scholarship that has come after, in their attempts to
decipher the reasons behind the actions of a man who conquered the
Persian Empire, and beyond, in 334-323 BCE.

Alexander the Great has met Persian King Darius III family,Sisygambis (Sisigambis) was the mother of Darius III of Persia, and Stateira I was his wife. Stateira II was one of Stateira I and Darius III’s daughters. Sisygambis had many reasons to hate Alexander the Great, but she was too
smart to allow her emotions to destroy her world. She had different
ideas about how to take care of herself and her family. Thus, the three women were all members of the famous Achaemenid dynasty which provided them with special characteristics in Alexander’s eyes.

At the Battle of Issus (333 BC), Darius' army was routed and the Persian king fled the field, leaving his extended family, including his mother, his wife Stateira I, his children, and many others to the mercy of Alexander. Alexander captured them but treated them with all dignity, where many a lesser conqueror would have executed them out of hand. When Alexander the Great and Hephaestion (his closest friend and probable lover) went together to visit the captured Persian royal family, Sisygambis knelt to Hephaestion to plead for their lives, mistaking him for Alexander — Hephaestion was the taller, and both young men were similarly dressed. When she realized her mistake, she was acutely embarrassed, but Alexander reassured her with the words, "You were not mistaken, Mother; this man too is Alexander.At the Battle of Gaugamela, Sisygambis and her family were kept within the baggage train behind Alexander's army. When the Persian army's Scythian cavalry broke through Alexander's forces to reach them, she allegedly refused to celebrate what appeared at first to be Persian victory.Quintus Curtius Rufus informs that Sisygambis could never forgive her son Darius for abandoning his family at Issus. After Darius was killed shortly following his defeat at Gaugamela, Alexander sent his body to her for burial. Called upon to mourn his death, she was reported to have said, I have only one son [Alexander] and he is king of all Persia.Sisygambis’ life saw another turn in September 331 when Alexander destroyed the Persian army in the Battle of Gaugamela. Darius was heavily wounded and died soon after the battle. Sisygambis and her relatives were kept in the baggage train following Alexander’s army. The Achaemenid queens and their children were unsure of the future following Darius’ demise. At the same time, Sisygambis was still angered by Darius. She had never forgiven him for leaving his family at Alexander’s mercy and escaping like a coward - it wasn't a behavior worthy of a Persian king.Nevertheless, Alexander treated them quite well, and liked to talk with the Achaemenid queens and princesses. He was a man who loved smart women. After Darius’ death, he sent his body to Sisygambis, to which the queen said that she now had only one son, Alexander. These actions showed the surprising bond that existed between them.Stateira, wife of Darius III,Stateira was the wife of Darius III; says she was also his sister we don’t know whether this means she was full or half-sister. She was captured by Alexander after the battle of Issus in 333 BC One of the best known stories of Alexander relates to his meeting with Stateira, her mother Sisygambis, her son (Ochus), and her two daughters (Stateira and Drypetis). After the battle Alexander visited the royal women, to reassure them that Darius was still alive. He took Hephaestion with him, and Sisygambis thought that he was the king. When she realised her mistake she feared for her safety, but Alexander declared that Hephaest

Alexander the Great mourns the death of Darius III. (330 BC)When Alexander the Great invaded Persia, Darius was defeated in the battle of Issus (333 BC) and again in the battle of Gaugamela near Arbela (331 BC). For the first time Persia was confronted by a united Greece, and Darius' greatest error was in underestimating Alexander's strength. Darius used the wrong tactics in battle and was forced to flee to Ecbatana and then eastward to Bactria. It was there that the satrap of Bactria, Bessus, had Darius murdered on Alexander's approach and took command himself in the unsuccessful opposition to the Macedonian conqueror.

Darius III wife death,Stateira was reputed to be the most beautiful woman in Persia. Despite her beauty, Alexander the Great was said to have exercised great control, treated her like a sister, and maintained her royal state . However, at some time in 331 BC Stateira died. The sources are contradictory about exactly when this happened, and also about the cause of death: it might be that she became ill, as a result of the hard travelling of the baggage train but one version says that she died in childbirth which suggests that Alexander was not as restrained in his treatment of the royal women as he purported to be.